One day I was driven by a rain-storm to take shelter in a little hut by the road-side, which was used by a shoe-maker as his workshop to fix shoes. The man and his son were busy with their work; and after saying, "Good day," we began to talk together.

Before I had been with them long, the old man sent his son out to get something that he needed for his repair. His son was only one kilometre away, but it was too long for the h【小题1】 shoe-maker to be free. He at last took up a piece of leather and began to work on it, saying, "You know, sir, it will never do to waste time."

As soon as the rain was over, I went on my way home, thinking over what I had heard, "It will never do to waste time." Some people are always lazy, others are lazy only now and then. I was one of the second ones. I couldn't f 【小题2】 my attention all the time. So the old man's words came home with me and I began to feel how w【小题3】it was to waste so much of my life in laziness.

I had often heard and read that laziness was great h 【小题4】; but now I begin to see that it causes far more disadvantages than people are aware of. They don't know the wasted time never goes back.

When a man is busy, he is said to be "occupied." What does that mean? It means that a man at work is like a house with people living in it. When our minds are full of our work, there is no s【小题5】 for anything else. Laziness, on the other hand, is emptiness; and when the mind is empty, then the doors are thrown open, and bad thoughts come in to influence your pure heart. When it once gets hold of a man, the habit of laziness isn't e【小题6】 got rid of.

I have made up my mind to follow the shoe-maker's rule for the rest of my life. Although it was very hard at first, I stick to it because I learn to r【小题7】 myself not to waste time. Above all, I decide that my mind should never be empty.